Heading to Italy? Great choice.
Here are some tips to keep in mind in order to make sure to come away a satisfied visitor.
1. Refrain from trying to go everywhere and seeing everything. There are indeed some great platforms which can help you plan what can said to be the quintessential Italian-experience itinerary, like https://roma-pass.com in particular, but you’ll only frustrate yourself if you try to cover every inch and see every site.
2. Strategic lodging – stay as close as possible to the areas where you’ll be spending a good chunk of your time, be it taking-in the surroundings, sightseeing or taking part in the many activities on offer. You’ll save a lot on your day-to-day expenditure and you can walk most places, so you’ll avoid having to use paid transport.
3. Pack and wear comfortable shoes. Since you’ll be walking everywhere (at your local destination base), make sure your shoes don’t become an irritation.
4. Validate your tickets. Sometimes taking public transport will be unavoidable, in which case you need to watch out for a common practice which has tourists taken advantage of by train ticket vendors. Make sure your ticket is valid by placing it in the validation machines (they’re yellow and placed throughout the stations). If it isn’t valid you will be in some expensive trouble and the inspectors aren’t very sympathetic to tourists. One way to avoid this could be by renting a car from firms like StressFreeCarRental.com so that you don’t have to worry about validating an infinite number of tickets.
5. Travel in summer. I’m referring to the local Italian summer. You’ll just have a better time. You’ll be able to explore more places and witness the country at her majestic best, in terms of the natural beauty that complements the character-filled architecture, ruins, etc.
6. Travel light. Travelling in summer means you can also travel light, which is a good practice when visiting Italy because not every building has elevators and escalators. You’ll likely be scaling many flights of stairs instead.
7. Get around like your mom owns the place. Seriously, obvious tourists unfortunately appear to be targeted for some little cons and schemes. Just make sure to collect as much info about what you’re getting into as possible.
8. Visit Rome. If you haven’t seen the Colesseum and haven’t visited the Eternal City of Rome, do you have legitimate claim to having visited Italy? Probably not!
9. Avoid the trappings of the cheap wine. If you love your wine, you’ll be in heaven in Italy, as it’s very cheap. Even the good stuff is cheap, but remember that it’s illegal to drink in the streets, so don’t do it, even if you might see what look like locals doing it.
10. Ask about “Coperto” to be “safe.” The coperto charge is quite common in Italy, which is basically a cover charge. For instance, if you walk into a certain restaurant, once you’ve entered and had a seat at the table, you’re liable to pay a cover charge, even if none of what they have to offer takes your fancy and you end up not buying anything.
Don’t let what may appear to be some unique travellers’ challenges put you off visiting beautiful Italy!